Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad with Lemon Basil Almond Pesto

So now that I made pesto, I had to figure out what to do with it.  Pesto works well with a pasta salad, so I made a tasty pasta salad that used the summer’s bounty of vegetables.  The unifying taste comes from the pesto and since I used a nice, light lemony pesto, with a splash of red wine vinegar, it was a lovely summer salad indeed. My dad commented that he wished it had more pasta, compared to vegetables, so proceed with a ratio you prefer.

This simplistic recipe is from The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Berley which also had the recipe for the lemon basil almond pesto.

Here are a few other ideas for using pesto:

Pesto Rice Salad from Eats Well With Others
Heather’s Quinoa Salad (with Cherry Tomatoes, Corn, Kale and Pesto) from 101 Cookbooks
Arugula Pesto Wheat Berry Salad from 101 Cookbooks
Wheat Berries with Roasted Vegetables and Red Pesto from Anja’s Food 4 Thought
Foil-Baked Salmon with Pesto and Tomato from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Pesto Palmiers from Eating Out Loud
Romaine Pesto and Egg-Stuffed Tomatoes from Smitten Kitchen
White Bean Salad with Pesto from the New York Times

This is my submission to this month’s Pasta Please for pesto, this month’s No Croutons Required featuring carrots and to Presto Past Nights, hosted by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast, and to Deb for this week’s Souper Sundays.

Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad with a Lemon Basil Almond Pesto

6 cups chopped vegetables (I used 1 carrot, 1 yellow zucchini, 1 green zucchini and 3 bell peppers)
1/2 pound pasta
2/3 cup lemon basil almond pesto (or pesto of your choice)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1. Boil water. Add 2 tbsp salt. Cook the vegetables, uncovered, for 2-3 minutes. Remove from water and run under cold water.
2. Return water to a boil. Stir in the pasta and cook until al dente. Run pasta under cold water when done and set aside.
3. Whisk together the pesto, vinegar and oil. Pour the vinaigrette over the pasta and vegetables and toss well. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Serves 4-6.